04/29/2006

Reading blog stats is pretty interesting. Every once in awhile it's even humbling. A special shout-out thank the reader from Atlanta who today spent 1 hour/ 10 minutes/ 49 seconds and went 44 pages deep into Diva Marketing. Awesome.

04/28/2006

Friday Fun is Diva Marketing's
virtual happy hour from cosmos to Jack to lemonade. A waiting for the
weekend 'playground' time to be sophisticated-silly. Or sometimes just
plain silly.

Okay who is still watching theApprentice? Even though MediaVest reports, via Ad Age, this season the show has lost 41% of its 18-to-49 year old audience, that still leaves 59%. I know you're out there.

Am I watching? I surf in and out in between blog postings. What I want to know is - what gives with The Donald bringing in his two kids Ivanka, whose ink on her Wharton B School degree is still wet, and bro Donald Jr. to judge who should qualify for the $250,000 job? I mean they are no George or Carolyn.

I invited my children, Don Jr. and Ivanka into the boardroom for several episodes this season and they take the firings to a whole new level. Donald Trump.

Was it really The Donald's idea or did some producer think that having a couple of rich kids sitting next to their papa and analyzing the performance of experienced business people would raise the ratings? Or is this Father Knows Best in the style of the Rich and Famous?

Sidebar: In full blogosphere honesty the young Trumps hold very prestigious positions with the Trump Organization. Mr. Donald Trump, Jr., 28, holds the title of Vice President of Development & Acquisitions for the Trump Organizations and Ms. Ivanka Trump, 24, is Vice President of Real Estate Development at the Trump Organization. This is a family business after all. Did you expect junior analysts?

Now I must admit, and it might come to a surprise to Diva Marketing readers, but I come no where near earning the $16,000/minute that Donald Trump pulls down. However, I have an idea that could increase ratings for the next Apprentice season. Sidebar: Perhaps if i stop giving away free ideas I might come a few pennies closer!

Don Junior and Ivanka come out from behind the board room conference table and on to the playing field as members of the Apprentice teams.

Girlfriend, think about it. Sure, the rules of the game might have to change a bit. Are the Trump kids on the firing line? Do they switch teams mid season? How will the dynamics of relationships among the real apprentices change? Will there be some sucking up? You betcha! Now this is reality TV that could make for some diva dishin!

The new moon in Taurus gives us cosmic instructions to look at our money issues and to take actions to realign with our intentions. Set up those savings accounts you have been thinking about, make an effort to invest in property, cut out unneeded services. With the sun and moon in the ninth house of travel and education, your money spent on those endeavors will yield a healthy return.

Venus in Pisces is a good time to have your business sponsor a cause you personally believe in; race for a cure, humane society, end world hunger, you get the idea. Enjoy the weekend, great eats and interesting conversation is in the air.

04/27/2006

Caught up this morning with Michael Neumeir of the Arketi Group. I met Michael a few months ago when I had pleasure of joining Randy Covington, Director Ifra Newsplex at the University of South Carolina and Bram Bessoff from CompeteNet in a panel about social media for the MIT Forum-Atlanta.

The Arketi Group is doing some interesting work with business podcasting. Not only is it a nice value-add for customers but a low-key educational marketing strategy for biz development. The show notes provide links and a brief capture of the show.

The cool thing about the Arketi B2B Marketing Minute is it's a quick bite and several staff members are involved in recording. Since the casts are 'talking voices' - one person versus an interview with multiple people - a few different voices adds texture and variety. Not that the Divos' are not easy on the ears but I'm looking forward to hearing a woman's voice in the mix too. I've been told that's coming soon.

Low and behold (!) Mark received a comment from Gary Spangler of DuPont. DuPont is the first Fortune 100 company to embrace the WOMMA Code of Ethics and Gary is in charge of the project. Since DuPont is based in Delaware, not far from campus, Prof Alex Brown thought it would be pretty cool if Gary could come to class.

Here's where the Diva dishn'/blog networking comes into play. Since Alex couldn't locate an email address for Gary, I asked Michael Rubin (who is a blog buddy) if he would make the connection. Which he kindly did and Gary is coming to class next month. Cool.

The domino influence is (okay you might need to take a sip of your beverage) .. I met Alex because of Diva Marketing. Alex and I are now blog buddies. Alex included Diva Marketing in his class required reading list. In the meantime I had developed a blogger relationship with Michael. Michael asked me to post about WOMMA ethic's code. Student Mark read the Diva post and wrote about the ethics code. He linked to Diva Marketing. Gary commented on the post and because of blogger relationships the students at University of Delaware have an amazing opportunity to learn from a Fortune 100 marketer. Awesome. (If you've read all this you deserve another drink!).

So I got to thinking about blogger relations, which is one of the newest offerings, for what seems, every PR firm around. Some PR firms even treat blogger relations pretty much the same as good old world media relations.

But blogger relationshipsare not even good old world media relationships. Why? Bloggers are different from traditional reporters.

Most reporters and editors are fairly happy letting a PR shop serve as the go between. Let's face it even tho we love them - client relationships can get messy. Sometimes it's just easier to let the PR people handle the work between the press. And make no mistake it is work. And the PR firm holds the relationship.

The blogger's side: It seems to me that bloggers would prefer to build relationships directly with the client/company. If you believe that a benefit to blogging/social networking is building a direct conversation would you, as a blogger, prefer to develop that relationship with the client or a PR firm? And the PR firm holds the relationship.

The client's side: If the PR agency follows established tradtions the exhange between blogger and client/company continues to be filtered. And the PR firm holds the relationship.

PR Blogger Relationship Questions

Are blogs shaking up the traditional PR model or is it still business as usual?

Do clients want to own blogger relationships?

Are clients willing to take some of the control back from the PR firms?

Will a direct relationship between blogger and client result in friendships that produce more relevant, sensitive, frequent posts?

If my relationship with University of Delaware and WOMMA was with their PR firms, instead of directly with the organizations/people, what are the chances Gary Spangler would be going to class? And if he were would it be this semester or in year 2010?

Sidebar: Blogger relations is simply the networking opportunity between a blogger and a company where establishing a blog buddy friendship is mutually beneficial.

04/25/2006

First there was all the world's a publisher .. blogs.Then it was all the world's a radio station ... podcasts.Now YouTube proves it's all the world's a film or TV studio .. vlogs.

Checkout the in-depth post on Resonance Partnerships for all you ever wanted to know about YouTube. Marianne has written one of the best analysis pieces on the newest video .. dare we call it a channel?

04/25/2006

Mack at the Viral Garden did a bit of Alexa research on marketing blogs. Drum beat please, ta da...Diva Marketing is ranked in the top 25 .. number
sweet sixteen. Sidebar: Alexa, a subsidiary of amazon.com, is a search engine that includes traffic rankings.

Mack will be updating the list on Mondays. Nice viral marketing strategy. Now here's one for Mack from Diva Marketing. Brand it. Design a logo that the Top 25 Marketing Blogs can add to their blogs.

Let's spin this one a bit more. Divas, which of your products or services can be spun out further? What can you do by adding a few bells and whistles to increase perceived value?

Let's use Mack's Top 25 Marketing Blogs as an example. What else could Mack do to extend the buzz? Maybe a viral red carpet party that celebrates the work of marketing bloggers? Perhaps he could host a Top Marketing 25 Carnival. Or how about an award for the blog that moves up the furthest in the list the fastest over a period of time. Or a plus/minus ranking a la the F-100 rankings. So many ideas .. so little time. I think you get the concept.

Sidebar: I've copied this list from the Viral Garden .. please excuse the formatting. Yes, there are some big guns missing .. decision on Mack's part.

Speaking of college .. wonder what the new courses will be for future marketing majors. As profs like Alex Brown, University of Delaware, and Robert French, Auburn University teach new business leaders how to use social media tools to promote brands, *only* old school marketing strategies are going to seem like an old-fashioned merry go round ride.

04/21/2006

Girlfriend, Friday Fun is Diva Marketing's
virtual happy hour from cosmos to Jack to lemonade. A waiting for the
weekend 'playground' time to be sophisticated-silly. Or sometimes just
plain silly.

April is
Poetry Month. I use to love reading poetry and getting lost in the rhythumof the words. Seems I have less time to do that these days. When was
the last time you read a poem? For me it was days ago and that's only
because I met Robert Bruce -Knifegunpen, when I was guest blogging at Pro Blogger.

Sidebar: I've met so many great people guest blogging for Darren including Peter Flaschner, The Blog Studio, who designed Diva's skin.

Reading poetry is nice; but for my money poetry, like theatre, takes on different shades of meaning when it's performed. Robert not only is reading his poetry but vlogging too. Divas, I think that might be Web 2.0 poetry! Cool. Robert might also be the first poet who is video advertising on a blog. Ultra cool.

Poetry for children
doesn't necessarily have to be limited to Mother
Goose. Carolyn Kennedy recently edited a collection of poetry for
children which includes poems by Odgen Nash, ee cumming and Sylvia Plath. NPR has a wonderful interview with Carolyn Kennedy (ever notice that with some people you have to call them by their first and last names?) that includes her reading The Octopus by Odgen Nash and ee cummings himself reading one of my favorites in just

In business, in life and yes, in writing blogs(!) we look for inspiration. Some people read poetry, some people write poetry. Need a little help? Blogging musician, Graham English, tells how to write a perfect rhythm.

A bit of bragging .. check out my jazz musician, Uncle Hy White, who turned turned 90 and is still performing - tho not blogging!

Ladies and (gentlemen) get ready to shop! The Sun has just moved
into Taurus, the shoppers' paradise. There are now 28 days left in the
shopping season. Beautiful luxury items will be easy to find. However,
don't let your wants destroy your financial well being.

The weekend is
great for connecting with people. Many good exchanges of ideas can take
place. Concepts that you never considered before give great insights to
new inventive ways to promote your business.

Mid week is excellent to
complete tasks that you have been procrastinating and want out of your
life.

If it works the class might write a book about Loocsixela. Or perhaps they'll develop a seminar series about the benefits of Loocsixela. Maybe if they're very lucky their work with Loocsixela might be pay off their college loans. Or at the least a few keg parties.

Actually, it's a search strategy that can be used for good or evil ... Alex asked me to help out with the experiment. Will be interesting to see what happens.